Tesla is "seriously considering" opening a research and development centre in the UK next year, company boss Elon Musk has revealed to Autocar.

"It’s probable that we will establish a centre to supplement the work that we do in California," he said, "but if we want to attract the top talent we can’t just be modifying cars for Europe, it has to be complete programmes."

Musk admitted that a site has not yet been found but that he would be focusing on the Midlands and that it would create "hundreds of jobs". He also expressed admiration for the quality of UK engineers. "It seems a sensible thing to do considering the talents in British engineering. The best people are going to want to join."

Musk though admitted that a full manufacturing base in Britain was more unikely: "We will look strongly at a factory in the UK if the market justifies it. But if we do full production in Europe it’s more likely to be on the continent. We already have a final assembly plant in the Netherlands."